Environmentalists bemoan the clearcutting of the Amazon rainforests.
But an unexpected bonus has turned up: Beneath cleared jungle
archaeologists are uncovering mysterious geometric designs carved into
the earth.

Environmentalists
bemoan the clearcutting of the Amazon rainforests. But an unexpected
bonus has turned up: Beneath cleared jungle archaeologists are
uncovering mysterious geometric designs carved into the earth.

With the help of satellite imagery from Google Earth, Brazilian
archaeologists are finding more and more of the earth carvings, called geoglyphs, in the Amazon rainforest.

According to a story on environmental blog TreeHugger,
The geoglyphs are believed to have been sculpted by ancient people from
the Amazon region around 700 years ago, though their purpose is still
unknown. So far, nearly 300 geoglyphs have been identified, but with
advances in satellite imaging — and increased clearing of the jungle
coverage — scientists are hoping to discover many more of these
strange, geometric designs.

The Web site cites leading geoglyph scientist Alceu Ranzi. His
latest discovery consists of five sets of geometric shapes, with
circles, squares and lines that measures more than a mile from one
extreme to another.

Ranzi explained that the geoglyphs are hard to locate from the
ground; the advent of Google Earth and ready access to satellite data
has greatly facilitated his task.

"You do not see them in the field. There is a difference in the
color of grass, but it is very thin. If there were no satellite images,
there would be no possibility [of making these new discoveries]."